INTRODUCTION, 



BRANTWOOD, \tli MarcJi, 1874- 



YESTERDAY evening I was looking over the first book in which 

 I studied Botany, Curtis's Magazine, published in 1795 at 

 No. 3, St. George's Crescent, Blackfriars Koad, and sold by 

 the principal booksellers in Great Britain and Ireland. Its 

 plates are excellent, so that I am always glad to find in it the 

 picture of a flower I know. And I came yesterday upon what 

 I suppose to be a variety of a favourite flower of mine, called, 

 in Curtis, " the St. Bruno's Lily." 



I am obliged to say " what I suppose to be a variety," be- 

 cause my pet lily is branched,* while this is drawn as un- 

 branched, and especially stated to be so. And the page of 

 text, in which this statement is made, is so characteristic of 

 botanical books, and botanical science, not to say all science 

 as hitherto taught for the blessing of mankind ; and of the diffi- 

 culties thereby accompanying its communication, that I extract 

 the page entire, printing it, on page 7, as nearly as possible in 

 facsimile. 



Now you observe, in this instructive page, that you have in 

 the first place, nine names given you for one flower ; and that 

 among these nine names, you are not even at liberty to make 

 your choice, because the united authority of Haller and Miller 

 may be considered as an accurate balance to the single author- 

 ity of Linnseus ; and you ought therefore for the present to 

 remain, yourself, balanced between the sides. You may be 

 farther embarrassed by finding that the Anthericum of Savoy 



* At least, it throws off its flowers on each side in a bewilderingly 

 pretty way ; a real lily can't branch, I believe : bnt, if not, what is tha 

 use of the botanical books saying ' ' on an unbranched stein " 2 



